


You Were Gone Before I Knew It

by anakatieskywalker



Series: Recovery of a Jedi [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Luke is Rey's dad, Pre-Canon, Rey Skywalker, this is totally my theory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 11:53:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5496104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anakatieskywalker/pseuds/anakatieskywalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You never said "I'm leaving"<br/>You never said goodbye<br/>You were gone before I knew it,<br/>and only Ben knew why.</p>
<p>Ben ran from Luke's training, into the waiting arms of the dark side, and on his way out, he killed every one of Luke's pupils, except for one.</p>
<p>How Ben hid Rey from Luke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Were Gone Before I Knew It

Ben had still been just a boy, hardly a teenager when he had changed so drastically. Rey had hardly begun her real training, but she’d spent the most time with Ben.  
Luke had thought it would be a good idea, to give Ben some responsibility other than his own training, to combat the darkness that was coming for the boy, and for the most part, it had worked. 

But there was something dark that called out to Ben, perhaps there was too much of Luke’s own father in Ben. Luke had felt the darkness in his nephew, and passed it off as self-doubt until it was too late.

Ben had called out to whatever was calling him, and had been supplied with soldiers, and with them he slaughtered all of Luke’s other padawans. Except for one.  
Rey Skywalker, Ben’s own cousin, had almost been attacked by one of Ben’s soldiers when he called the man off. The small girl was crying, and begging for Luke. Somehow, amidst all of the darkness Ben had let in, he found some humanity, and loaded Rey up into his ship. 

When they took off, leaving the once again scorched remains of the Jedi Temple, Ben studied the map of the planetary systems, and picked the most distant one. One that he knew his parents and uncle had never been to: Jakku.  
From what he understood, it was much like Tatooine, where his uncle and grandfather had grown up, a complete wasteland, the perfect place to hide a child that you didn’t want to be found, never mind the context.

 

They landed near a settlement, run by a junker named Unkar Plutt, and for the first time, Ben bent someone’s mind to his will. Plutt wasn’t the nicest of men, and there was a possibility that he could eventually turn on Rey, but Ben didn’t let himself think about that for long.   
This was a punishment, for Luke, to not know if his daughter is alive, or where she was, for Ben, because he couldn’t let go enough to allow her to be killed, because he couldn’t resist the dark, even if there was some light still in him, and in a small way, for Rey, because she managed to worm her way into Ben’s heart, even as it grew darker.  
Once Plutt was taken care of to the point that Ben knew he wouldn’t just let Rey starve to death, Ben knelt down to Rey’s height. The girl was still sniffling, silent tears running down her face. She’d stopped asking Ben where Luke was just as they had arrived on Jakku, and Ben could tell she was waiting for the Jedi Master, who was also her father, to jump out.  
“Rey, look at me.” The girl looked up, and Ben reached up to touch her face, “It won’t hurt, I promise.” With that, he pulled. They were both slightly panicked, but Rey was young, and most of her knowledge was relatively basic.  
Slowly, Ben pulled out her memories one by one. Memories of the temple, the other padawans, her ability to levitate rocks, and water, and the lush plants that surrounded the temple. He pulled out the memories of his own parents, and the stories of their adventures. Then, he pulled out all of the memories of himself, tucking them all away into a dark corner of his own mind. Finally, he pulled out all the memories of her father, a life in the complete dark as to what her own past was became Rey’s destiny.   
Ben felt around her mind one last time, to make sure he’d gotten everything before he stood. Rey’s eyes were glassy, which was a complete change from the light that was always shining out of the little girl. After a moment, ben found he had to look away, and that was when the spell was broken.   
Rey started screaming and crying, begging for him to come back, but that just made Ben walk faster. He didn’t deserve to feel wanted by Rey, and she didn’t deserve to be left, yet here they were.


End file.
